While holding onto hope for the future of his war-torn homeland, Rami Al Ali has another reason to look ahead with pride: he is set to become the first Syrian fashion designer to present at Paris Haute Couture Week.

The invitation to showcase on the world’s most prestigious fashion stage marks a major milestone for the 53-year-old designer from Deir ez-Zor, who first turned to fashion after spending his childhood admiring his architect father’s drawings.

Now, after years of dressing A-listers from Oscar winner Helen Mirren to Beyoncé, as well as Middle Eastern royals, Al Ali is rubbing shoulders with the biggest names in the industry.

“Nervous, excited, tired, happy,” he told AFP when asked how he felt as he prepared models for his debut Paris Couture show on Thursday. “It’s a mix of very overwhelming feelings.”

After studying in Damascus, Al Ali left for Dubai as a young man in search of opportunities in the fashion industry, working initially for two regional brands.

He branched out on his own in 2001, building a regional fan base for his eponymous brand in the United Arab Emirates before creating a following in Europe, including through shows in Paris outside the official Fashion Week calendar, which began in 2012.

The invitation this year from France’s prestigious Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode places him in a new, increasingly diverse elite category.

Syrian traditions

“It’s definitely a big honor… to be acknowledged, to be authenticated, to be endorsed,” he explained.

Other non-Western designers such as Imane Ayissi, the sole sub-Saharan African at Couture Week, have praised the French federation’s openness.

“It shows that things are changing, that things are moving forward,” former model Ayissi told AFP this week.

Al Ali’s new collection of couture dresses — he also produces two lines of ready-to-wear per year — like most of his work, has been inspired by his Syrian heritage and includes input from the country’s Craft Council.

“I built from my heritage, from my background, from where I was based — also in the Middle East, in Dubai. All of those combined created the form and DNA of the brand,” he explained.

Influenced by his historian mother’s appreciation for tradition, Al Ali draws on the design aesthetics of Damascus, Aleppo and Palmyra in particular.

“You don’t see them anywhere else, and those are the ones that I’m trying as much as I can every time to bring back to life,” he added.

One of the dresses in Thursday’s collection features elaborate sculptural patterns made from rolled off-white crepe fabric, stitched by hand in a process that took an estimated 300 hours of work.

As part of the Couture Week calendar, he joins a growing list of non-Western designers being formally recognized on the international couture stage.

Creative freedom

Beyond the catwalks and glitz of the fashion world, Al Ali has also worked to support Syrian artists throughout the country’s nearly 14-year civil war via a charity initiative called Ard Dyar.

The fall of former president Bashar al-Assad in December, which led to the rise of rebel-turned-transitional leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, has given Al Ali renewed optimism about his homeland’s future.

Several Western governments have lifted sanctions on Syria as Sharaa, a formerly Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist, attempts to fully pacify the country and rebuild.

“We called the collection the ‘Guardian of Light,’ and it also came at a very hopeful, promising time,” Al Ali told AFP. “I think many great things will come to light very soon.”

After decades of Syria being associated with violence and political oppression, Al Ali hopes that artists will now help highlight the country’s rich history and design culture.

“I think now we have much more freedom in expressing ourselves in all different aspects — political, humanitarian, creative. We have a lot to say, and we are definitely bolder, braver in the way we express it,” he said.

FashionNetwork.com with AFP